Motorists impatient with cyclists should watch out for a ghostly spectre as they drive past the scene of a fatal bike crash.

They may not be able to exchange wedding rings, but a couple who survived a four-car smash will be united forever by matching scars.

Roads and vehicles must be "more forgiving" to curb a road toll which averages more than one death a day, the AA says. Figures released by the Ministry of Transport today show 371 people died on the roads over the past year.

Police have named the 19-year-old who died when he was thrown out of a car as it plunged 25 metres down a cliff at the Pinewoods Motor Park in Red Beach, north of Auckland, early this morning.

Campers at a coastal campground north of Auckland are in shock after a teenager was thrown out of a car as it plunged 25 metres down a cliff at the campground early this morning.

Alcohol and speed contributed to more than half the 13 deaths on New Zealand roads over the holiday period.

The holiday road toll stands at 13, the same as last year, following two fatal crashes in Auckland overnight.

An elderly man is dead after his car swerved into a park van in Papakura, south of Auckland - but he may not be added to the holiday road toll, which now stands at 11.

A fleeing driver was taken to hospital after crashing near central Auckland.

A motorcyclist was killed yesterday on the Coromandel Peninsula and a motorist died in Marlborough last night, taking the holiday road toll to 11.

The death of a man hurt in a Waikato crash has brought the holiday road toll to 10. A 20-year-old died of his injuries about 4pm in Waikato Hospital. A car he was in yesterday hit a van carrying five disabled children on SH1.

The holiday road toll has risen to nine following a crash involving two motorcycles on the Coromandel peninsula this afternoon.